1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic assemblies, and more particularly to a structure and method for efficient thermal dissipation in an electronic assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
As the semiconductor technology advances, integrated circuit chips of higher processing power are integrated in computer systems. Nowadays, certain computer systems may typically include a central processing unit (“CPU”) in charge of the general computing operations, and one or more graphics processing unit (“GPU”) specifically dedicated to process graphics data to render display images. As a result of the increased processing power provided by the CPU and the GPU, a higher amount of heat that is produced must be dissipated.
To illustrate, FIG. 1 is a simplified side view showing a conventional motherboard assembly 100. The motherboard assembly 100, which is constructed according to the standard Advanced Technology Extended (“ATX”) form, may include a motherboard 102, a CPU 104, and a graphics card 110 having a GPU 112 thereon. To dissipate the heat produced by the CPU 104, a fan module 106 is arranged on the CPU 104. Because the GPU 112 has to be mounted on a side opposite the CPU 104 to comply with the ATX form standard, the dissipation of heat irradiated by the GPU 112 may be problematic. For example, an airflow A generated by the fan module 106 cannot be directly used to dissipate the heat irradiated from the GPU 112. In case an additional electronic assembly 108 is connected to the motherboard 102 in front of the GPU 112, the circulation of the heat irradiated from the graphics card 110 may thus be substantially restrained in proximity of the GPU 112, which would cause overheating damages to the GPU 112.
To remedy the aforementioned problems, a conventional approach proposes to couple a heat sink 114 with the GPU 112, as shown in FIG. 1. The heat sink 114 includes an extended portion 116 that bends over an outer edge of the graphics card 110 for receiving the cooling airflow A. This approach intends to dissipate the heat from the GPU 112 via the extended portion 116 of the heat sink 114 that is exposed to the airflow A. Unfortunately, the designed thermal dissipation path “L” from the GPU 112 to the extended portion 116 is too long, and the heat is mostly dissipated toward the front of the heat sink 114. The designed extended portion 116 of the heat sink 114 consequently provides poor thermal dissipation results. In the presence of another electronic assembly 108, the heat dissipated from the heat sink 114 thus still remains blocked on the same side of the graphics card 110 in proximity of the GPU 112.
What is needed in the art is thus a structure and method that can efficiently dissipate the heat in an electronic assembly and address at least the problems set forth above.